Thursday 24 May 2018, 7.30pmRoyal Festival Hall, London

“Gatti… visually conveys such a sense of physical force that his restrained gestures communicate a sense of coiled power waiting to strike” (Washington Post, Feb 2016).

Daniele Gatti returns to the Philharmonia. The result of a happy ten-month holiday, Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony is a tribute to the ‘supreme delight in life’ the composer found in Italy. Instantly joyous, especially at the leaping ‘Saltarello’ dance of the finale, Mendelssohn even briefly referred to his symphony as ‘blue sky in A major’.

Equally inspired, Brahms’ sunny Second Symphony came hot on the heels of his eagerly awaited First: ‘the melodies flow so freely that one must be careful not to trample on them’, Brahms wrote as he composed from the idyllic surroundings of the Austrian seaside village of Pörtschach.